Jack Woltz

Jack Woltz (1885-) was a Hollywood movie producer during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Biography
Jack Woltz was born in New York City, New York in 1885 to a Russian-Jewish immigrant family. He rolled barrels with his father in Hell's Kitchen during the early 1900s, but he came to achieve mild success in the film industry before founding Woltz International Pictures, which grew into one of Hollywood's biggest studios. During World War II, he became the White House's propaganda adviser, becoming an acquaintance of J. Edgar Hoover. Woltz became known for several great films (including many war films), but he was also a rumored pedophile, allegedly molesting young actresses and actresses' daughters. He also became a famous racehorse breeder, purchasing the British Triple-Crown winning racehorse Khartoum for $600,000 and putting him out to stud in his stables. He was very proud of his horse, even hiring armed policemen to protect the horse.

In 1945, Woltz bought the rights to make a war novel into a large-budget war movie, and he refused to cast Johnny Fontane in the lead role due to Fontane's role in the breakup of one of Woltz's previous relationships. He failed to blacklist Fontane as a communist, and he bombarded Fontane's lawyer Tom Hagen with a series of Italian racial slurs after Hagen was sent by Fontane's godfather Vito Corleone to persuade Woltz to give Fontane the role. Woltz refused to negotiate, so Aldo Trapani and Rocco Lampone severed Khartoum's head and placed it in Woltz's bed. When Woltz awoke, he was terrified and angered, and he was forced to give Fontane the role. Eventually, Fontane used his success to open his own studio that rivaled Woltz International, and he would go through hard financial times during the 1950s before recovering in the 1960s.